Chapter 178

This matter was that she hadn't considered it properly, (they) must find an opportunity to speak clearly with Huai'an, and let him give up on Yinlan as soon as possible.

Yinlan was silent for a moment, and resumed her usual smile, "Madam, it's getting late, do you want to rest?"

"Wait a little longer, you go to bed first, don't keep me company, look at Yanzhi, sleeping silly, you should learn from her, be more open-minded, don't always think too much."

Yinlan had no choice, "This slave doesn't think too much, it's just that the Duke's manor is not the same as the Earl's manor, and this slave has to be more careful, especially when it comes to serving day and night, the young ladies next to the elder Madam always come to our side to probe about the Eldest Prince."

Gu Ying lightly "hmm"ed, with no other expression on her face, only her long lashes lowered, unable to see her emotions, "Huo Qiyun still has the Eldest Prince in her heart, what she lacks now is a way to make her leave Zhao Changxing."

"Madam really wants to help her?"

"Hmm."

"But the Eldest Prince..."

Gu Ying was slightly flustered inwardly, "The Eldest Prince should also want her to leave, Zhao Changxing is a demon, to help his childhood sweetheart suffer under a demon, with the Eldest Prince's character, he wouldn't just sit back and watch."

Yinlan sighed, and was speechless for a while. In her heart, she hoped that the Eldest Prince would favor Madam alone for his whole life.

But she also knew that with the Eldest Prince's character, it was really unlikely.

Huo Qiyun was too important to the Eldest Prince.

"Alright." Gu Ying curved her brows and smiled, "Go rest soon, I'll continue copying scriptures."

Gu Ying had actually almost finished copying the scriptures, with only the last volume left. She planned to let herself rest for a bit, and finish copying it overnight tonight.

Without the Eldest Prince, Changfeng Pavilion felt somewhat empty at night.

After Yinlan left, this feeling of loneliness became especially pronounced.

While she copied the scriptures, she recalled memories from her past life in her mind.

In order to resolve His Majesty's suspicions, the Eldest Prince stayed up all year, and was determined to disband the Qilin Army, settling them on the borders to work the fields and mines. When discussing this with His Majesty, both sides made concessions, and His Majesty also agreed to the Eldest Prince's proposal without taking back the Qilin Army's tokens of authority. At the beginning of the year, heavy snow collapsed countless houses in Yueyang, and the people suffered from the snow disaster. His Majesty sent Prince Shu to handle the disaster situation.

Originally, Prince Shu was handling the disaster well, and this matter would have become his stepping stone to get promoted and enfeoffed, but unexpectedly... that year's snow disaster was especially severe, and there were also frequent earthquakes... After Prince Shu brought troops to Yueyang, nearly all his men died in the earthquakes. Most horrifying was that after the earthquakes, a plague broke out...

Prince Shu barely made it back alive.

She saw all these things from Jiang Yin's study.

At least in her past life, Jiang Yin had cooperated with the Eldest Prince before, both of them were of Prince Duan's faction, intending to support Prince Duan to ascend the throne.

In the end, Prince Duan died of illness, and Prince Shu seized the opportunity.

Later, Prince Shu raised troops because of a woman and died, and by then Jiang Yin had already discovered Prince Shu's truth of poisoning Prince Duan. With the two princes dead in succession, the Zhao princes declined.

Jiang Yin took the opportunity to incite Duke Zhao, who used the Qilin Army's tokens of authority to recall the Qilin Army, and worked with the Eldest Prince who was then Grand General and the influential Ning Family of the Ministry of Personnel to control court politics.

At this point, the entire Dong Li was practically surnamed Zhao.

After the Zhao clan came to power, Jiang Yin entered the inner cabinet to handle state affairs together with the Zhao clan.

The Eldest Prince... also gradually disappeared from her memories.

As she finished copying the last sentence of the scripture, the brush tip stopped at the last character.

Gu Ying was stunned for a moment. Now that Jiang Yin's path had been cut off, what she needed to do now was to assist the Eldest Prince, save Prince Duan, stop the disaster victims from suffering the calamity of the sinking earth, and rewrite the ending.

It was just so late tonight...

The night outside was as dark as ink, with the cold wind howling.

The coal by her feet was half burnt, and she felt somewhat cold.

She tidied the scriptures on the table and changed to go to bed. As soon as she closed her eyes, her mind was full of the Eldest Prince's debauchery with her on the desk that night...

The quilt was somewhat thick and heavy.

Just like a certain sturdily built person, like a huge mountain, always covering her tightly.

Now he had ample experience, his skills gradually becoming skilled, and he also knew how to avoid hurting her.

In these matters, he was always very patient, only relaxing himself after satisfying her.

Thinking of this, her face flushed red, filled with shame and embarrassment. It turned out that with some people, some matters, one could really sink into indulgence.

In the middle of the night, the spacious canopy bed was empty, cool without the Eldest Prince holding her. She felt uncomfortable sleeping alone, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

She opened her eyes, gazing at the gorgeously embroidered canopy above her head, thinking, what was the Eldest Prince doing now?

Would Princess Yueyan secretly look for the Eldest Prince?

If the Eldest Prince really had something with another woman... What should she do?

She shook her head, determined not to fret about such worrisome matters.

After a long while, warmth finally infused into the quilt. Usually when he held her sleeping, her heart was at ease.

The night wind howled wildly, heavy snow billowing.

She admitted... she did miss him a little.

...

Early next morning, Duke Manor was lively.

It was snowing heavily outside. The madams in the manor all wore thick clothes, cloaks lined with fur.

The men were listening to government affairs in the morning court, having already gone to the Privy Council. The women directly took carriages to the rear palace.

Madam Cheng stood by the carriage, with Huo Qiyun attending her side, her eyes frozen red.

Gu Ying came to the main entrance, immediately catching sight of Huo Qiyun's pitiful gaze.

"Yo, I thought Ying wouldn't be entering the palace today. Wu didn't come home last night, why didn't you get up?" Madam Cheng's mocking voice came, "Could it be you hid some illicit person that can't see the light of day in your room?"

Yanzhi said softly, "Madam, I heard the elder Madam was called by Madam Cheng to serve her before dawn, Madam Cheng hasn't had a chance to make trouble for many days, she probably deliberately tormented the elder Madam today. This elder Madam looked truly pitiful."

Gu Ying's face held a smile as she walked over to Madam Cheng and curtsied in greeting.

"I've never heard such words from any well-read, reasonable lady or madam's mouth before."

"What do you mean?" Madam Cheng instantly flared with anger. This was Gu Ying scolding her for not being of orthodox lady birth, saying that she was only a lowly concubine who got into power.

Gu Ying continued unruffled, "Mother spoke too vulgarly. Duke manor has always had strict defenses and superior etiquette and manners. If I really let inappropriate people enter Changfeng Pavilion, it could only mean that mother runs the household poorly, meaning father's teachings are lacking. So does mother still think there are illicit people in my Changfeng Pavilion?"

With this, Madam Cheng was directly rendered speechless.

Seeing Gu Ying's face enraged her to the point she wished she could tear her into pieces.

But unfortunately, she still didn't dare to take open action against her now.